Tag Archives: Recipe

Sometimes you get bored of “go to” meals and for this I LOVE to browse Pinterest for inspiration. I usually pin recipes that look interesting as I see them and then visit my “recipes” tab later when I need one. If I loved the recipe or edited it I try to update my pin with comments.. When I remember to 😉

So browsing the Pintrosphere for inspiration I came across THIS pin for Italian Baked Chicken. I roughly followed the ingredients and process featured here in an attempt to end up with THIS for dinner:

I started out with similar ingredients to what’s mentioned in the original recipe, with a few alterations to what I had on hand.

And last minute I sliced half an onion not pictured because Mike is an onion aficionado and I was hoping they’d add additional flavor to the chicken breasts!

I cut my three large breasts in halves so they cooked more evenly and the dish was easier to serve. The photos really are self explanatory…

And YES during/after baking your kitchen begins to smell like Italy.. especially once you add the fresh basil at the end!!!

We just served ours over some garlic & avocado oil noodles

Definitely salt and pepper your chicken breasts, and I added layers of my favorite Italian seasoning blend. Mine took ~30min to almost cook, which is when I added the cheese on top and popped back into the top rack of the oven on broil until the cheese bubbled and browned.

Overall it’s a fairly light, fun meal – and perfect with a glass of red wine after a long hard day!!

If you’ve been keeping up with my posts then you already know I love wine. (If nothing else, follow the link for the photos… world’s largest glass of wine??)

It can’t just be me! I can’t be the only one that sees the sun shining outside and thinks to herself “patio weather!!” Followed immediately by visions of ice cold margaritas and giant bowls of freshly mashed guacamole. Patio drinking and snacking just says summertime.

If you ask me, the secret to good, great, incredible guacamole is THE AVOCADO.

Mind blowing, right?! The main ingredient. And that’s how it should stay. Fresh, ripe avocado with hints of flavor, but not out done by it. Keep your guacamole simple with a few key additions and you’re ready to party!

One combination I’ve been loving lately are diced cherry tomatoes, a tsp. minced garlic, chopped cilantro, a squeeze of lime and a few dashes of salt.

It’s one of the simplest recipes to follow. The most difficult part may just be getting all the avocado good-ness (a word?? Yes) INTO the bowl. I have a few tips to share that have worked for me but feel free to comment with your own!!! It’ll be like a Secrets of the Avocado webbie party!

FIRST I take my avocado and cut it into two halves. Wait, scratch that… first I knock off the ugly black tip thingy… Which is also a good sign your avocado is ripe. It should be slightly squishy but not complete mush. Something I’ve discovered that everyone else may already know, but was news to me, is that once they’re perfectly ripe you can pop them in the fridge to keep for a few days 😊👍.

Okay, so knock off thingy, cut in half… Then de-seed it. There’s just one large pit in the avocado but I used to have SUCH a painful time removing it. Then one day I’m at a restaurant and the guy demonstrates the most brilliant way to remove the pit. You’re already holding your large knife you used to cut it in half, just kinda whack the knife into the pit diagonally, then twist! It comes right off on the knife.

Hopefully the animated gif here helps!

P.S. – if you want to make your own gifs too just check out the Party Party app by these wonderful ladies at A Beautiful Mess! I’ve been having way too much fun with it so expect more!

After you’ve got 4-5 Avocados sliced, scooped and into your bowl it’s time to add any extra ingredients to jazz it up! Honestly, a bit of salt and lime and pinch of minced garlic go a long way BUT I like to add some diced cherry tomatoes since they’re so good for you.

Just dice them up and throw them in the bowl… then the cilantro if you want to.

Yep, that’s a Costco sized container of minced garlic in the back ground and it might last me my WHOLE LIFE. But we shall see. It looks like it’s all tomatoes and cilantro in the photo but that’s just because we haven’t mixed it yet! I swear there are 5 whole avocados under that top layer!